Most of what you've read online about IRS problems is wrong, or at least misleading. I'm Darrin Mish. I practice tax law in Tampa and I've been doing this for 32 years. Here's what's actually true.<\/p>\n
Many of you may have already filed your taxes and some may even have received your tax refunds by now (if you haven’t even filed your taxes, you have about a week left to do it). \u00a0To most people, getting the tax refund check is a welcome relief\u00a0as it may amount to a substantial chunk of cash. \u00a0It also means you have not become the victim of identity theft where your refund check was stolen by criminals.<\/a> \u00a0But what you do with your refund\u00a0is just as important as receiving it safely from the government. \u00a0Click here to read or watch more IRS Help resources.<\/a><\/p>\n Here is some sound advice on what you can do with your tax refund.<\/p>\n Save\u00a0it for a rainy day<\/p>\n This is the most obvious thing you can do. \u00a0Saving it does not necessarily mean putting it into your savings or checking account. \u00a0You could deposit it into some form of investment like a college fund or start a new business to generate even more money. \u00a0In any case, you should always have at least 6\u00a0months’ living\u00a0expenses\u00a0in your savings, so if you have not attained that amount, you should just save up your tax refund in case of emergencies.<\/p>\n Pay your\u00a0debts<\/p>\n This is perhaps the second most common thing people do after saving it. \u00a0Since we all have debt, there is always some debt you\u00a0can pay down that will reduce your financial burden and improve your credit rating. \u00a0It also eliminates future interest and improves your net worth.<\/p>\n Contribute towards a 529 plan or IRA<\/p>\n A 529 plan helps you pay for college education by saving now. \u00a0Starting a 529 plan now will reap you the rewards in later years when you have to send your children to college. \u00a0If you don’t have children (or even if you do), consider contributing towards an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) which is a form of retirement savings. \u00a0It’s different from a 401(k), which are what your employer contributes on your behalf. \u00a0An IRA is what you open for yourself. \u00a0What’s more, an IRA also entitles you to further tax breaks.<\/p>\n Spend on your home<\/p>\n If you want\u00a0to spend the money, my advice is to at least spend it on an asset that appreciates in value and which you can derive benefit from. \u00a0What better asset than your own home? \u00a0Houses and other such properties tend to appreciate in value so should you sell your home in future, you can fetch a higher price if you have put in some money to upgrade or renovate it. \u00a0So spending your tax refund on your own home is a form of investment for the future.<\/p>\n Give to charity<\/p>\n An alternative to spending on yourself is giving to the less fortunate. \u00a0All you have to do is ensure the charitable organization you donate to is registered so that your donations are tax-deductible. \u00a0That way, you will be saving on next year’s taxes at the same time.<\/p>\n Give yourself a treat…just not too much<\/p>\n If you already have a high net worth and your family is well-provided for, go ahead and give yourself a treat. \u00a0But don’t overdo it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Most of what you've read online about IRS problems is wrong, or at least misleading. I'm Darrin Mish. I practice tax law in Tampa and I've been doing this for 32 years. Here's what's actually true. Many of you may have already filed your taxes and some may even have received your tax refunds by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[593],"class_list":["post-13034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-irs-help","tag-tax-identity-theft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13034"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22431,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13034\/revisions\/22431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}